Site Mobile Navigation

The Fire Dept. Tests That Were Found to Discriminate

When Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn ruled on Wednesday in a Justice Department lawsuit that New York City had discriminated against black and Hispanic applicants to the Fire Department, he argued that the entrance exams used had little relation to firefighting.

Firefighter Examinations

These examinations were used as evidence in the investigation into the Fire Department’s hiring practices.

The two tests, administered in 1999 and 2002, involve dozens of multiple-choice questions that appear to evaluate reading comprehension, the ability to look at buildings from one angle and visualize them from others, and specific knowledge about things like in what order firefighters should put on their gear in an alarm.

But lawyers for the Vulcan Society, an organization of black firefighters that is part of the lawsuit, argued successfully that those sorts of questions could not measure the skills necessary to become a good firefighter.

“The specific skills firefighters need cannot be tested in written tests,” one of the lawyers, Richard Levy, said at a news conference outside City Hall, adding that some questions required applicants to read at a level “way too high for the job” and that they were “not conducive to finding out who has certain abilities.”

In addition, he said, the tests used criteria, like reading for comprehension and writing prose analysis, that disfavored minority applicants. Blacks and Hispanics tend to fare worse on those kinds of tests, he said, because they have less practice in school or for other reasons. “When you do test for things like integrity, physicality, teamwork and cooperation, the adverse impact is much reduced,” he said.

Here are the two tests, versions of which were used until 2007, when city officials created a new exam that they have yet to make public but that they say is much different. They point to a higher minority success rate as proof.

You have got to be kidding me. I reviewed the first few pages of the test. all the questions related directly to firefighting in practical terms. How is this test biased against anyone, of any race or nationality? Please, someone, clue me in. In my mind, this is equivalent or worse than the ruling of Sotomayor in the New Haven firefigther case. What is this judge thinking, and where does HIS prejudice come from?

If a hundred equally experienced and skilled firefighters were given a written exam on which the minority races statistically performed worse, I would reject that exam as irrelevant and biased. That’s just common sense.

If you work as an artist for many years and perform all the same duties with the same skill as your colleagues, and then get passed up for a promotion because your vocabulary is not very expansive, it’s just arbitrary and unfair. Promotions, especially in public institutions, should be based on job proficiency, not artificial tests. Now, if this were an exam to find skilled literary critics, I would agree that it was valid.

As a Black woman, some of these reasons reek of the soft bigotry of low expectations. I think that overall, we have to take responsibility for the academic development of our children from early on. There is nothing that keeps a Black or Hispanic child from learning as quickly or reading as voraciously as a White child. I think the early childhood learning environment of the home is where so many of these problems are born and nurtured.

Many exams are biased, I will conjecture, though I have always fared well. I think that outcome makes me an anomaly, if anecdotal evidence counts for anything. In short, let’s focus on educating children more intelligently and from an earlier age.

There is nothing racist about this test. The test (which I’ve taken) measures a candidate’s ability in reading comprehension, because in the academy there is plenty of reading to be done regarding specific procedures to follow in many different types of fires. It also rates candidates on memory retention (also useful when entering a burning building and remembering ways of egress). How can they expect the ENTRANCE EXAM to be about firefighting? They haven’t gotten to the academy yet! How are they supposed to be tested on FDNY firefighting procedures before the fact?

There is nothing racist about weeding out candidates who are going to waste the time of instructors (and other candidates) because they can’t read, understand, and memorize the FDNY operations manual. The fact that a lot of these lower scoring candidates differ ethnically represents a problem with society overall, and certain racial groups not receiving a quality education at a younger age. I am Latino and I was fortunate to grow up in a neighborhood that was zoned for better city schools. I scored a 98 percentile on the test. I found nothing racist in these tests, not even the moral section. Perhaps the problem lies in the recruitment, however I also find the FDNY to be very active in trying to recruit candidates of color.

Is it racist to require applicants to be able to read and comprehend (e.g. manuals for complicated equipment; Fire Code, etc).

Is it racist for applicants to be able to write a comprehensible report (e.g. about a fire, an work related incident, a death or injury)

Or is it MORE racist to simply accept and gloss over (or worse, highlight) the fact that minority groups fare poorly in this area.

Keep the standards high or, if you ask me , make them even higher, and you will create/maintain an organization that has the best and will attract the best. Regardless of race.

To me making excuses for anyone, of a specific race, gender, ethnic or religious background is the core of racism in this world. Propagating myths and misinformation in the dubious defense of this law suit is highly insulting to me as a lifelong New Yorker.

If the complainants of the law suit want to get specific racial/ethnic groups into the NYFD (a premise that is itself racist), then they should spend their energies on enhancing the qualifications of those applicants as oppose to dragging down an entire organization to a least common denominator.

Ask yourself if you really care about the race, creed or color of the person behind that distinctive hat, mask and black rain coat when they burst through the door to rescue you or someone you love.

Damn it, I want the best New York has to offer; those who want to be part of an elite group for a special calling. To dilute that organization by lowering its standards is a crime.

They get thousands of applicants for this job and the test is used to reduce this number to a manageable number.In one test thay asked about Malcom X and a significant number of blacks got it wrong. No test is perfict and I am sure the civil service commission does not intend to discriminate.

Is judge GARAUFIS suggesting that minorities do not have the educational skills to pass a mainstream civil service exam. I thought our society has advanced to the point where we don’t devalue people based on their education or race.

The relevant question is not whether or not the exam can get any easier. What the article calls into question is test validity. Is there a correlation between these test scores and fire fighting performance?
For decades sanitation jobs were the province of one ethnic group. Exams kept the wrong people out. And folk justified that passing entrance exams was a pre-requisite for the. Alas, the courts saw through the smoke screen.

Page 5… Question 15… the answer to the question is in the question itself… 2 inches above the multiple choices.

I don’t see where these tests descriminate against blacks and latinos. Maybe the quotes chosen in this coverage are not appropriate to make the point.

I am not sure that Bloomberg will appeal the judge’s decision though. It’s election year! It’d be the right thing to do though. Otherwise, it may cost us, the taxpayers, a lot of money and obviously do not change anything to the quality of services provided by the Fire Department.

What I fail to understand is why the test was changed when after every administration of the exam, there are thousands of applicants who passed but will never become members of the FDNY. There’s a surplus of applicants, which in any other arena, would call for raising, not lowering the standards.

I came to New York in the fifties and way back then I heard white people say that black men could not become firefighters – it had something to do with taking showers and sleeping in the firehouse overnight.
Now that was many years ago, but from what I have seen, it still is an only white people job. What is the excuse white people use today?
Ruth Beazer

As a NYC firefighter who will attest to how easy these tests are i wish to ask just one question……Is the judge implying that white people are SMARTER than black people?….Are Black people ignorant or just uneducated?…sorry that was two questions…but then again i am just a dumb civil servant!

I looked at the tests and while I agree that someone might be able to be trained to perform the duties of a firefighter, even if they perform poorly on this test, the questions are a good indicator of cognitive ability. Combined with a physical fitness test, they are an excellent indicator of candidates’ ability to learn quickly the job. Since we taxpayers have an interest in firefighter cadets finishing their training quickly (and fellow firefighters have an interest in hiring smart junior firefighters who learn quickly and can to back them up), we should keep these tests. Recruiting academic athletes from minority groups is a good way to encourage more applicants, but everyone should be subject to the same test.

When I applied to b-school I had to write the GMAT. I was terrible at math, but I STUDIED hard for a year and I improved my math ability enough to score over 700.

I realize testing for firefighters is different than other jobs but how should I feel as a Caucasian when 99.9 percent of busdrivers, subway workers, taxi-drivers, city workers, etc., etc. are people of color. I feel totally racially prejudiced against – reverse discrimination is rampant. Maybe if Taniqua and D’Quan lifted themselves out of the ghetto and learned how to read AND SPEAK PROPERLY and stay in school, they might reach the bar. Stop dumbing everything down for people of color !!

Okay, I skimmed through the first few pages of the test…am I missing something? The reading level of this test isn’t exactly Les Miserables. It seems no more difficult than it has to be to convey the information required to answer the questions. I’m failing to see any reason why a black person shouldn’t be able to read this test.

No, I don’t think it’s racist to expect black and hispanic firefighters to be able to read, remember, and convey information at the same level as white firefighters. And yes, I want my firefighters to be able to do those things. They get less practice in school? Give me a break.

I have looked throught these tests posted above that were submitted as biased. They consist of questions relating to different firefighting scenarios, and other content related to firefighting. It is true that they require the ability to read the questions which present firefighting scenarios, and the possible answers. But then, shouldn’t anyone applying for a job be able to read and comprehend the material related to his/her job? I don’t understand how these questions can be considered racist. Either you can read and comprehend or not.

You have got to be kidding me, what the hell is racist about testing the analytical skills of someone who is going to be using them all the time???? I’m a teacher, and my students, almost all minority and foreign born, have no trouble keeping up with standard tests — I’m quite proud of the kids.

I’ve gone midway through the exam with a timer in hand. From the first page it was clear to me that the plaintiffs in this case are full of it. I say this as a black man who was educated in Brooklyn’s public schools. Had I taken this exam at 14, right before I started at Brooklyn Tech, I would have done well on it. This exam would not be difficult for anyone with basic reading comprehension skills and an IQ of 100 or above. But that’s just the problem. IQ varies by race so in any large sample of test takers, you’re going to see racial disparities in the outcomes. That is, unless the test is not at all cognitively demanding.
In a city where there are loads of applicants for good civil service jobs, tests like these are useful ways of culling the wheat from the chaff. The public has got to wake up to this scam that these plaintiffs and their unethical lawyers are pushing. I doubt that the average person of any race cares what firefighters look like. What they do care about is whether he’s good at his job.
Why do we allow civil service employees to participate in race-based advocacy organizations? Membership in such organizations should be forbidden upon entry into government service.

What's Next

Looking for New York Today?

New York Today is still going strong! Though no longer on City Room, New York Today continues to appear every weekday morning, offering a roundup of news and events for the city. You can find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com or in the morning, on The New York Times homepage or its New York section. You can also receive it via email.

Lookin for Metropolitan Diary?

Metropolitan Diary continues to publish! Since 1976, Metropolitan Diary has been a place for New Yorkers, past and present, to share odd fleeting moments in the city. We will continue to publish one item each weekday morning and a round-up in Monday's print edition. You can find the latest entries at nytimes.com/diary and on our New York section online.

About

City Room®, a news blog of live reporting, features and reader conversations about New York City, has been archived. Send questions or suggestions by e-mail.